Container cover



June 2,5, 1940.` D. L. coHEN CONTAINER COVER Filed Dec. 3l, 1938 INVENToR D4 V/ L COHEN l ATTORNEY Patented June 25, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFQE CONTAINER COVER David L. Cohen, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application December 31, 1938, Serial No. 248,672

1 Claim.

This invention relates to discardable covers for bottle containers.

Bottled drinks arey frequently sold in cases or containers made of Wood and having longitudinal and transverse partitions providing spaces to receive the bottles. The upper portions of the bottles are thus exposed, and when the bottles contain ale, the iiavor of the same is often spoiled if daylight strikes it for even a few minutes. Hence I have devised a cover for the bottles to prevent spoilage of the ale by exposure, and also to keep the bottles clean. Moreover, the cover is adapted to containadvertising matter concerning the drink and the brand name, and thus constitutes an interchangeable advertisement for use with different cases or containers.

A problem that confronted me was to nd a proper method for the cheap and rapid attachment of the cover to the bottles or container thereof. The bottles themselves are inserted into the case manually, the operator grasping a few bottles in each hand and with several rapid motions can insert two dozen bottles into a case. The cover itself must be similarly capable of very rapid, convenient and reliable securement with only a few simple motions. supplied to a central shippingv point along inclined chutes or conveyors, they travel at high speed and are subject to impact at certain points or turns of the chute, and hence the covers will be knocked off unless properly attached. The cases themselves are preferably of standard shape and construction, and being cheaply made, are frequently considerably warped because the wood thereof is insufficiently kiln dried.

I have attempted to provide a necessarily cheap cover, ,consisting of ordinary paper or cardboard, tucked in around some of the bottles, but have found that the cover is easily knocked off. I then attempted to secure the cover directly to the bottle necks below the conventional heads or caps thereof, and though I provided holesof various sizes and shapes for this purpose, I nevertheless found that the cover would either tear at the holes or would not hold with suicient tightness for the intended purpose. It will be remembered that in all cases the cover must be adapted to be applied to the bottlesat high speed; and that the bottles are loose in a warped case, and hence may vary in position, spacing and in vertical relationship. It was onlywhen I had devised a cover of the type herein disclosed, that a satisfactory solution of the problem was found.

The object of the invention is, therefore, to

Since the cases are provide a device of the character described which shall overcome the defects hereinbefore mentioned. y

Another object of the invention is the provision of a device of the nature ,set forth havingrrelaf tively few and simple parts, and which'is durable, reliable, and efficient in use.

Other objects of the invention will become ap' i parent as the specification proceeds.

With the aforesaid objects in view, the invention consists in the novel combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described in their preferred embodiments, pointed out in the subjoined claim, and illustrated in the annexed drawing,v wherein like parts are designated by the same reference characters throughout the several views. v

In the drawing:

Fig, 1 is a perspective isometric View embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 3, and showing a device embodying the invention with the cover applied.

Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the same.

Fig. 4 is a full size fragmentary top plan View of the cover.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view ofthe cover taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, but showing the same applied to a bottle.

of.a device The advantages of the invention as here outlined are best realized when all of its features and instrumentalities are vcombined in one and the same structure, but, useful devices may be produced embodying less than the whole.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, that the same may be incorporated in several different constructions. The accompanying drawing, theres fore, is submitted merely as showing the preferred exemplification of the invention.

Referring in detail to the drawing, l0 denotes a device embodying the invention. The same may include a one-piece sheet of Kraft lined bottle engaging holes H at the corners thereof.

Each of these holes may have a series `of radial slits I2 that are angularly spaced therearound.

The holes and the slits are in spaced relation to the end and side edges I3, I4 cfY the cover I9. Each of the holes has preferably eight slits arranged degrees apart. The slits I2 provide tongues I6 for engaging under the caps of the bottles. In Figs. 4 and 5 the arrangement and construction is shown in full size.

The main body of the cover I may carry advertising I7 and other pertinent indicia I8 relative to the bottled product. The general shape of the cover I0 is rectangular or such as to conform to the case that contains the bottles.

In Figs. 2 and 3 is shown a device embodying the invention and including a case 2| constructed of wood or the like and having bottom, side and end Walls 22, 23 and 24 respectively, interconnected by spaced longitudinal and transverse partitions 25, 26 respectively. |These partitions provide spaces for receiving any conventional bottles 2T that may have the well-known type of metallic closure caps 28 crimped at 29 under a lip of the rim of the bottle neck.

The cover Ill is engaged with the corner bottles as shown, the necks of the bottles extending through the holes II, with the tongues I6 engaged under the crimped cap portion 2S, and the cover extending over all the intermediate bottles as is clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The cover is applied in the following manner. As the case 2U lled with the bottles 21 comes along the conveyor, the operator places a cover Il over the case, and applies pressure to the relatively stiff cover at the points indicated by the arrows 30 in Fig. 2, causing the convex top face of the cap to spring the tongues I6 upward so that the caps pass through the holes II, and the tongues then deect back into the plane of the cover IU and engage under the caps 28. The cover is thus securely connected, with the legends I 'I, I8 exposed to view, and with the cover tting in the case 2I. In fact, the deformity produced in the cover in passing upward and over the bottles adjacent to the holes I I, aids in maintaining certain of the tongues I6 n tight tted engagement with the caps 28. The cover thus fully covers the bottles against exposure to day light, and the case can be subjected to severe impact without knocking the cover loose.

It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the particular bottle cap or case disclosed, these being shown illustratively only and that any resilient or pliable board having sucient stillness and strength, preferably pounds or more by the Mullin test may be einployed.

It will be appreciated that various changes and modifications may be made in the device as shown in the drawing, and that the same is submitted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in the following claim.

I claim:

A device including an open top rectangular case filled with similar bottles all of which have necks and closure caps, said bottles being positioned side by side with the tops of the caps in a common plane, a rectangular cardboard cover of substantially the size of the open top positioned in said case and supported solely by said bottles and covering the same, said cover having at each of its four corners a substantially circular opening with radial slits thereabout, the remainder oi' said cover being imperlorate, said cover being positioned in the box to rest upon the caps of all the bottles except of the iour corner bottles, said cover being locked in position by engagement of the caps of the four corner bottles in the adjacent respective corner openings of the cover.

DAVID L. COHEN. 

